The American Association of University Professors Foundation will give $5,000 to Steven G. Salaita, who was offered a professorship by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign but then saw it revoked after he wrote tweets critical of Israel. The money comes from the foundation’s Academic Freedom Fund, which provides “temporary financial aid” to “faculty members whose means of support are reduced or cut off because of their involvement in academic-freedom controversies.”
Mr. Salaita has threatened to sue the university, which formalized the revocation of his job offer when the Board of Trustees voted down the appointment, in September. The university’s chancellor, Phyllis M. Wise, had previously opted not to submit Mr. Salaita’s appointment to the board, saying it was unlikely to be approved.
In the interval between being offered the job and having it revoked, Mr. Salaita resigned from a professorship at Virginia Tech.
Meanwhile, Ms. Wise has continued trying to mend fences with faculty members who protested the treatment of Mr. Salaita. On Monday professors lined up at a faculty meeting to upbraid Ms. Wise over her handling of the affair, reported The News-Gazette. Some faculty members turned their backs on Ms. Wise when she gave her opening statement.
The AAUP was one of several organizations to register its disapproval of the university’s handling of the case.
Correction (10/14/2014, 4:03 p.m.): An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that the American Association of University Professors had granted Steven Salaita $5,000. In fact, it was the AAUP Foundation that approved and will administer the grant. The post has been updated to reflect this correction.
